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It took the goverment 's intervention in 1913 to force Bell to permit independent companies to connect to its network. By this time, 1600 independent telephone companies owned only 15% of the local telephone market. Bell had the advantage of providing local and long distance service on one phone bill per customer. Independent customers payed two bills one to AT&T and the other to the local phone company. Problems with AT&T persisted for years prompting Congress to enact the Communications Act of 1934 which established the Federal Communications Commission and the Public Utilities Commissions. In 1968 when an oil baron named Carter wanted to connect radio phones he had developed to Bell's long distance network the answer was NO. Why? because it meant using Non-Bell equipment on the long distance phone network. The FCC ruled that Bell had to comply. This action lead to the private ownership of communications equipment, such as the Telephone & Key Systems and the Private Branch Exchange (PBX). Other companies tried to compete with AT&T's long distance service in creative ways. Sprint layed fiber optics along the Southern Pacific Railroad. MCI used microwaves and Wiltel also layed fiber optics along natural gas lines.

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